Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive facultative intracellular bacterium that causes life-threatening diseases in humans. It grows and survives in environments of low oxygen tension and under conditions of strict anaerobiosis. Oxygen-limiting conditions may be an important factor in determining its pathogenicity. L. monocytogenes serovar 1/2a strain EGD-e has been employed intensively to eluc

The behaviour of ice sheets and their geologic imprints in fjord regions are often multifaceted. Fjords, which were temporarily occupied by fast flowing ice-streams during major glaciations, and inter-fjord areas, which were covered by less active ice, show different signatures of past glaciations. The land and marine records of glaciations over the western Svalbard fjord region have been extensiv

Systemic infusions of angiotensin II (AngII) rapidly induce large, dynamic increases in the permeability of the glomerular filtration barrier (GFB) in rats. After binding to its receptor(s), AngII generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) and produces Ca(2+) influx into cells, leading to activation of a plethora of signaling cascades, including e.g. calcineurin, and small GTPases, such as Rac-1 and

Group B streptococcus (GBS) is a leading neonatal pathogen and a growing cause of invasive disease in the elderly, with clinical manifestations such as pneumonia and sepsis. Despite its clinical importance, little is known about innate immunity against GBS in humans. Here, we analyze the role of human group IIA secreted phospholipase A2 (sPLA2-IIA), a bactericidal enzyme induced during acute infla

Dietary fiber and flavonoids, important components in berries, are suggested to improve metabolic health. This study investigates whether soluble and insoluble fractions isolated from bilberry, black currant, and raspberry affect the formation of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), uptake and excretion of flavonoids, and levels of cholesterol differently. Cecal SCFA pools were higher in rats fed the

We propose an event-based account of the cognitive and linguistic representation of time and temporal relations. Human beings differ from nonhuman animals in entertaining and communicating elaborate detached (as opposed to cued) event representations and temporal relational schemas. We distinguish deictically based (D-time) from sequentially based (S-time) representations, identifying these with t

In this paper a detailed investigation of the basis set convergence for the calculation of relativistic electron densities at the position of finite-sized atomic nuclei is presented. The development of Gauss-type basis sets for such electron densities is reported and the effect of different contraction schemes is studied. Results are then presented for picture-change corrected calculations based o

A general assumption reported in the literature is that the structural response of a stress-laminated-timber (SLT) bridge deck is linear until failure. However, few studies of ultimate-load tests (ULTs) on timber bridges have been reported. A full-scale test of a SLT deck (span, 4.9 m; thickness, 270 mm) was performed to obtain the deformations at various prestress levels as well as at the ultimat

Transparent, needle-like single crystals of the isostructural compounds [Sb4O7+3 delta X4][Zn-3](1+delta) = CL Br, I) delta approximate to 0.2 were obtained from chemical reactions in evacuated and sealed silica tubes. First, the average structure was solved in P211n but the model refined poorly and a lowering of the symmetry to the 3 + 1 dimensional space group P2(1)(alpha 0 gamma)0 gave a signif

The European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information (ESSLLI) is organized every year by the Association for Logic, Language and Information (FoLLI) in different sites around Europe. The main focus of ESSLLI is on the interface between linguistics, logic and computation. ESSLLI offers foundational, introductory and advanced courses, as well as workshops, covering a wide variety of topics

Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) is a rapid, non-invasive optical method widely adopted to gain diagnostic information of tissue. The most flexible approach to this method is a fiber-optic contact-probe used with a spectroscopy system. A challenge of this method is that the external pressure brought by the probe can significantly affect the tissue optical properties as well as the light coup

Aerosol-cloud interactions constitute a major uncertainty in future climate predictions. This study combines 10 years of ground-based aerosol particle measurements from two Nordic background stations (Vavihill and Hyytiala) with MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) satellite data of convective clouds. The merged data are used to examine how aerosols affect cloud droplet sizes and

It has been often claimed that the scientific process is quite opposite to the design process, mainly based on the former’s analysis of existing phenomena in order to develop a theory, while the design process is an act of synthesis that creates something new in the world. In the light of the developments that led to this conception, and with reference to the current views of the scientific proces

Chondroadherin is a leucine-rich repeat protein known to mediate adhesion of isolated cells via the integrin alpha(2)beta(1) and to interact with collagen. In this work, we show that cell adhesion to chondroadherin leads to activation of MAPKs but does not result in cell spreading and division. This is in contrast to the spreading and dividing of cells grown on collagen, although the binding is me

To validate and evaluate the psychometric properties of the ALPS-Neo, a new pain assessment scale created for the continuous evaluation of pain and stress in preterm and sick term infants.

Obesity is heritable and predisposes to many diseases. To understand the genetic basis of obesity better, here we conduct a genome-wide association study and Metabochip meta-analysis of body mass index (BMI), a measure commonly used to define obesity and assess adiposity, in up to 339,224 individuals. This analysis identifies 97 BMI-associated loci (P < 5 × 10(-8)), 56 of which are novel. Five loc